Flu closes some Up North schools

A second school district in northern Michigan has shut down because of the flu.

Mesick Consolidated Schools closed on Wednesday and doesn’t plan to open again until next week.

The district says nearly a quarter of students missed class on Tuesday due to illness.

“Usually once you see a large percentage of students missing school and teachers missing school, it gets to a point where most of that material is going to have to be retaught anyway,” says Dr. Jennifer Morse. She is the medical director for Michigan’s District Health Department #10, which includes Wexford County.

Students at Manton Consolidated Schools are back in class Thursday. The district was closed because of illness on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Morse says it’s hard to stop the spread of the flu at schools without stopping class for a few days.

“It’s such a contagious illness,” Morse says. “And depending on the age of students it’s sometimes hard to get them to wash their hands properly ... and so it just gets really difficult to stop the spread.”